Problem reading CD audio in parallels under XP

[mouldybatcave]

Why?

Because one of my key pieces of software (use it all day, every day) is J. River's Media Center. It manages about 300 GB of audio files in FLAC format, about 30 GB of jpg's and about 20 GB of video's (home videos, etc.).

Why not just use Apple's software (iTunes, iPhoto, etc.)? Here's why:

• Media Center supports FLAC
• Media Center streams my media to both my TiVo's (converts FLAC files "on the fly" to MP3)
• Media Center streams my media to both my Netgear MP101's using a UPnP server
• Media Center has something known as "smartlists" - these are auto filters that allow your entire library to be dynamically filtered based on criteria you establish (i.e. Type=Audio, Genre=Jazz, Rating>=4, BPM<=80, Last Played>=30d)

Audio CD functionality allows me to add new music to my existing library - currently 1 to 2 new CD's a week.

Ma(r)c

I like j.River Media Center too. I tried using it in Parallels and Boot Camp for a while, but eventually I transcoded my entire FLAC library to Apple Lossless, dumped j.River and went iTunes. It's worth considering the alternative - the Smart Playlist options in Apple are less programmatic than j.River and I prefer the Apple approach (see picture, if you haven't already played with iTunes Smart Playlists - I don't think you have). The MP101 is a POS, the Squeezebox supports OSX/iTunes.

YMMV.